US higher education is facing some of its most urgent challenges, including political interference, financial instability, declining enrollment, increasing tuition costs, restrictions on academic freedom and free speech, and the acceleration of generative AI technologies. Students are second-guessing college as a feasible pathway to financial security, and faculty are facing a complex set of opportunities and challenges related to student engagement and preparation, compensation, understaffing, and workload. Consequently, faculty are looking to leaders for guidance and reassurance. Recently, researchers asked faculty whether their departments had shared a plan to respond to these and other higher education challenges, and 72 percent responded “no” (Gay, 2025). These uncertainties bring heightened resistance and confusion to outdated models of academic affairs leadership. Yet faculty and staff expect and need ordinary leaders to bravely confront challenges, build stronger connections, and share their vision for a more resilient and equitable future. Integrative leadership may provide higher education administrators in academic affairs with a dynamic framework for navigating the current educational landscape and restoring confidence among colleagues.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
